Decision pending on diabetes medications

Caryn Wilkinson Reporter from Community News

Should new medicines to treat type 2 diabetes be funded?

Should more than 50,000 people receive funding for the drugs?

Government drug-funding agency Pharmac is expected to decide next week whether it will fund two new medicines to treat type 2 diabetes.

Botany resident Graham King and thousands of other people who suffer from the condition hope the decision will fall in their favour.

King (pictured) pays $100 a month for Dapagliflozin, which is used to treat the condition.

Despite the cost, he said it helps control his diabetes and has cut the amount of insulin he has to take.

He said he doesn't think people should endure what he has had to to get modern medicines, like Dapagliflozin, Empagliflozin and Dulaglutide, to treat the condition.

"I'm just lucky I can afford $100 a month."

Figures released by the Ministry of Health last year showed there were 45,266 people registered in the Counties Manukau area with type 2 diabetes in 2019.

Pharmac chief executive Sarah Fitt said that next week its board will look at funding both Empagliflozin and Dulaglutide for 50,000 New Zealanders with type two diabetes who have a high risk of complications such as heart and kidney disease.

"Clinical experts told us that there is evidence for significant benefit from these two medicines in people with established or at high risk of cardiovascular and/or renal disease," she said.